In Repair
by thehedge
Summary: Years after the war, Hermione returns to Hogwarts. She does not, however, expect a roommate.
1. Chapter 1

It was much too late for this.

Hermione's long brown hair fell loose over her shoulder, she had unbuttoned the top two buttons of her mauve blouse and her lipstick-stained mug had held one too many cups of coffee. She normally didn't drink coffee, but she had been up late most nights that week, and she was struggling to keep from dozing off with her head resting on her hand.

Her lamp lit her small office, with the rest of the dark floor visible through her open door and the soft shifting of paperwork filling her office. Her curriculum was almost finalized, and while her fellow faculty members expected her to take the first week of classes for introductions, she was determined to take advantage of every second she had with her new students.

Although Hermione was indeed very thorough, she had ulterior motives for this specific night of organization and focus.

* * *

Hermione trudged into her common room after three a.m., her long hair frizzed into a full mane and her heels kicked off by the portrait. She walked to her room as quietly as possible, casting a cautious glance at the door opposite her own and slipping inside her own.

* * *

Lifting her head off the pillow, she smoothed back her hair and got off her too large bed to walk over to her closet. She buttoned up a dusky blue dress shirt over her black slacks, but was unable to find her shoes.

Too sleepy to remember her current predicament, she walked out of the door with her eyes searching the floor to find an unsettling sight.

Her eyes dragged up his long legs, currently clad in silk forest green pajama bottoms, and contrasting quite nicely with the pale skin of his muscular back. The skin looked smooth, with the curves of his muscles only interrupted by the occasional freckle or scar.

He was standing over the stove, gently shifting the black pan over the flame and drinking water with his unoccupied hand. His light hair looked soft in the morning sun, a fact that she really couldn't afford to be thinking.

This last thought snapped her out of her trance, and she flinched backwards, hoping to sneak back into her room before he noticed her appearance.

"Your shoes are by the door, princess."

She winced and turned back around. He had yet to turn around, but she could hear his smirk loud and clear.

* * *

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Granger, and this is Professor Malfoy."

Hermione stood in front of a class of Fourth Year students, her side of the desk stacked high with papers and books. Draco leaned against the desk behind her, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his face neutral. He lazily examined his students, his posture opposite of the prim and focused woman in front of him.

"This class will be dedicated to defensive magic theory and spells, and there will be the special introduction of physical combat and strategy to the course. The first few lessons will be a series of tests to ascertain what areas you need to work on as a class, and today is the first exam.

These exams will not count towards your final grades; they are merely for the purpose of tailoring the curriculum to your needs. Are there any questions?"

No hands went up. Hermione gave a minute for any shy students to speak up, but the silence continued.

"Alright, today is dueling."

* * *

Once again, Hermione sat in her office late at night. Her fingers shook lightly from the caffeine and she winced at the bitter taste of her coffee. She preferred tea.

If only her favorite tea bags weren't currently in the top cupboard in her shared kitchen.

Hermione had been living with Draco for a few days, but only saw him once, that morning. Aside from that hint about her shoes, they hadn't spoken, and she was delaying the inevitable. She knew it was immature to avoid him, but she couldn't bring herself to face her old enemy.

So here she sat, in her small office crowded with texts and scrolls, pouring over materials she could use in lectures months in the future, and fastidiously ignoring her silent roommate.

* * *

Blinking blearily at the rising sun through her window, she picked up her head and stretched. It had been a few years since she had last fallen asleep on a desk, and although she was only twenty, her back was stiff and her neck cracked.

Her eyes focused on the corner of her desk.

Sitting perfectly innocently with a puff of steam rising from it was a cup of tea.

It was green.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione's heels quietly clicked against the floor as she walked to the Great Hall, her left hand carrying a small stack of papers and in her right, a green cup of tea. She sipped it distractedly, eyes scanning the papers and glancing up occasionally to ensure she did not walk into a wall.

She looked up at the sound of shoes joining her own to see the tall blonde. She quickly tucked her head back down.

A few minutes later, the quiet walk seemed suffocating.

"Having a good morning?" She asked, hoping to bridge the gap between her colleague and herself. She tilted her head up with a small polite smile and cautiously made eye contact.

"Alright. Yourself?" He nodded in acknowledgment but did not face her.

"Fine." She tucked her head back into her paperwork.

* * *

"Good morning class, I am Professor Granger, and this is Professor Malfoy."

Hermione stood in front of her last first class, the Slytherin and Gryffindor Seventh Years. This particular class had been making her nervous, as these students were the youngest group involved in the war and the most connected to the violence out of the current Hogwarts population.

While blood purity and conflict was not as much of an issue as it was in years past, these students definitely still held reservations regarding a muggleborn and ex-Death Eater Professor. This controversy was the exact reason Headmistress McGonagall had hired the two Professors, in an effort to promote inter-house unity and smooth over the animosity still held by many students.

Hermione's polished spiel continued, going into detail concerning the course's subject matter and content. Malfoy once again leaned against the desk behind her, his 6'3'' frame towering over her 5'8''. His black top and pants painted an intimidating image, with his sleeves rolled back to reveal muscular forearms and a number of light scars.

There was an air of tension in Hermione's stance, but she steadfastly kept to her plan, her back straight and head forward. She confidently met eyes with several students, smiling at a few familiar faces and stepping back to flick her wand and shift the desks to the outer edge of the classroom.

She purposefully did not take questions before announcing the duels, not interested in arguing with angry students over the legitimacy of her or her colleague's position.

"Begin."

* * *

"We will inevitably need to discuss how we are going to structure this course, Professor Malfoy."

Hermione broke the silence of her shared apartment for the first time, walking into the office attached to Draco's room. He looked up from his desk, closed his book quietly and crossed his arms while leaning back in his chair to observe her.

"Hm?" He lifted an eyebrow.

"We are supposed to be sharing the responsibility of teaching this course this year. Are you planning on speaking to any of our students? Don't think I haven't noticed your silence."

She couldn't fathom how he had managed to get through all of their courses for the week without uttering a single word to his students. It was irresponsible and lazy.

"I don't understand how you're able to neglect your students in this way. I've led every class by myself and while I am perfectly capable of teaching this class alone, Minerva wanted us to do this together." Her frustration rose with his continued silence, and she took in a sizeable breath to continue her tirade when he finally spoke.

"Do you mean to tell me that you don't already have every lesson planned for the next few months?" He spoke with a straight face, his low voice quiet and smooth.

She was startled by his interruption, expecting him to sit back and allow her to tire herself out like Ron and Harry normally would have done.

"Uh…"

"Because it would hardly be professional to be unprepared. That doesn't sound like you, Granger." He smirked up at her before standing, moving around to lean against his desk and look down at her.

She stepped back from him when he got closer, uncomfortable with his sudden proximity and unwilling to look up at him from such a close distance.

"That is far from the point, and how would you know about my lesson plans anyways?" She flushed slightly, "Have you been through my things? My privacy is important, I don't care that we have to share quarters, you need to stay on your side of the roo-"

"I've known you since we were eleven, Princess. Get me a copy of your plans and I'll add the things that you missed." He picked up a paper from his desk and examined it calmly, seemingly oblivious to the increasingly frustrated ball of energy in front of him.

"I have not missed anything, Malfoy! I do not appreciate your tone and I am much more thorough than you could ever hope to be."

"You should also stop sleeping in your office. Your room is perfectly fine, and your back must be sore from sleeping hunched over your desk like some sort of Quasimodo. Or have you not been avoiding me?"

He tilted his head as he looked down at her, expectant.

She paused, her continuously buzzing mind blank as she looked up at him, not having expected him to notice her absence. She bit her lip and blinked, trying to gather her thoughts.

His eyes dropped down to her lip slowly then back up to her eyes, his expression neutral. He stepped closer to her, her eyes falling to his lip as well and he gently touched her waist and she held her breath.

His hand seemed so large on her small curves.

She held her breath and her nerves were further scattered before he gently turned her around and gave her a gentle push out of his office.

* * *

Hermione woke in her bed, fully rested and stretching. She smiled at the absence of pain and stiffness in her movement and rolled out of bed. Smoothing out her pajama bottoms, she walked out of her room and towards the kitchen.

She loved the calmness of a quiet morning, the only sound in the apartment being the quiet thud of the cabinet she closed and the clink of her bowl on the countertop. She spooned oatmeal into her bowl and took the kettle off of the stove, pouring water into her red mug and reaching for her favorite tea bag.

Her back stretched as she reached upwards, only to find that she could not grasp the package. She huffed in frustration, only to feel warmth behind her.

"Morning, Princess." He spoke quietly in her ear while gently pressing his front to her back. He grasped the package she had been straining for surely, before backing away and placing it on the countertop beside her.

As suddenly as his warmth appeared, it was gone.

She felt her heart stutter back into regular beats, blinking rapidly and tucking her hair behind her ear before clearing her throat. She quickly opened the box, removing a tea packet before putting the package back on the too tall shelf.

She sat at the small table, making her tea and tucking into her breakfast, soundlessly opening a tome for some light reading. She heard more shuffling from the kitchen in front of her, and watched her colleague make his breakfast.

She smiled when she realized that his presence did not disturb the quiet calm of her morning. His smooth back flexed as he shifted the black pan in his hand, cracking eggs and dropping them onto the hot pan.

She paused while eating, and poured tea into the green mug beside her red.


	3. Chapter 3

Slipping on a black t-shirt, Draco walked into the Room of Requirement to face Hermione. The room was simply a padded floor with large windows, and punching bags hanging by the borders of the room. He stretched his arms up and cracked his neck while Hermione wrapped the white wrappings around her palms and wrists.

"Are you ready?" She asked. He quietly grunted in affirmation, squaring his shoulders to face the brunette.

"Have you had much training? I know we never discussed this, I just planned it without asking you." She felt strange asking him after the excitement of introducing physical combat into her lesson plans. "I just figured that you had experience, with the war and all."

"I'll be fine." He nodded to signal his readiness.

Hermione and Draco had agreed to spar daily. She was concerned that they were not on the same page when it came to physical combat, given that she had experience during the war with the boys and she did not see Draco for a majority of the fighting. With the focus on spell work and the general distaste towards muggle methods of fighting, Hermione knew that many purebloods struggled defending themselves when disarmed. She hoped to rectify this gap in knowledge through intensive physical training in her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

Hermione took a step towards him, cautiously throwing a punch and watched as he dodged. She tested him, throwing punch after punch and he kept his hands by his hips, watching her silently.

She took a breath, looking up at him questioningly and he nodded again. His confidence passed to her and she nodded back.

Quickening her jabs, she put more power behind her movements and they began circling each other. He did not strike out at her, simply studying her style and observing. Their movements continued for a few minutes and she worked up a slight sweat before bouncing on her feet and beckoning him towards her.

"You're not going to hit me? I know that I'm a girl, but you really should try to land a hit or two."

"Giving up already, Granger? I wouldn't think that you'd tire that easily." He smirked down at her, moving around her in a way that made her feel like she was small and ineffectual. "Guess you really do need this practice."

She huffed, her chest heaving before she struck out again. He dodged again, stepping closer to her and letting her chest rest softly against his own. She frowned, trying to put more distance between them by stepping back. He quickly tucked his foot behind hers, pushed her shoulders back and she tumbled to the ground.

She jumped up quickly; flipping her hair back and putting her fists back up.

"Try that again, I dare you." She growled. He chuckled and raised his fists as well.

* * *

Hermione stood in the shower, rinsing off the sweat and pulling her hair over her shoulder. She tilted her head back to let the water run over her and pumped soap into her palms to wash her face.

After cleaning her hair and shaving her legs, she stepped out of the shower with light pink skin and wrapped a fluffy towel around her chest. She quietly padded across the bathroom before peeking out the door, checking to make sure the coast was clear.

With no man in sight, she walked out the door and tip toed to her room.

* * *

"Although nargles are common, they really should be monitored around the castle. It seems as if there is an increase in activity lately and I would love to find the cause." Luna continued speaking after this, but Hermione could barely keep up. They sat next to each other at the Head table in the Great Hall, with Luna on Hermione's right and an empty seat to her left.

Hermione continued her conversation with Luna, hearing the chair beside her scraping as Draco took his seat. He nodded in acknowledgment to his colleagues before making himself a plate of food.

"Good evening, Draco. How did you find your first week?" Luna smiled dreamily at Draco, "My first week was fairly uneventful, but I imagine that Defense classes would be more eventful that Care of Magical Creatures classes."

"It was fine, the students seem fairly well educated when it comes to spell work, but definitely need improvement when it comes to physical combat. We'll see how they're doing when we assign their first essays next week." He folded his napkin in his lap and responded politely. "How is your father doing with the Quibbler?"

Hermione was sure that this was the longest she had ever heard him speak in a civil tone. She observed Draco and Luna's conversation, unaware of the fact that Luna had been friendly with Draco before his arrival at Hogwarts. She wondered if they had been friendly long, as Draco had been under house arrest for a few years after the war and Luna had spent that time traveling.

She wondered who else had been friendly with him since the war. She knew that he had definitely changed, the absence of insults and racial slurs speaking for itself. She hated this friendly quiet Draco. He was much more confusing and puzzling than he used to be.

* * *

Hermione and Draco quietly ate breakfast together on Saturday and Sunday morning, falling into a comfortable routine. She would wake first, make her oatmeal and open a book to read at the table. She would invariably forget that her tea was on the top shelf and attempt to reach it wandlessly, and her roommate would silently grab it and hand it to her.

She quietly thanked him before sitting at the table, alternating between reading her book and watching him make his breakfast. She would pour him a cup of tea and set out the milk and sugar between them and they ate in silence.

She glanced up to meet his eyes and smiled slightly at him and he nodded to her before returning to his own book.


	4. Chapter 4

His hand fisted in her hair, firmly pulling her hair back to expose the pale column of her throat. His movements were sure but not harsh and she gasped for breath as his lips trailed down her neck and he bit down at the cusp of her shoulder. She whimpered in pain but also pleasure when he then soothed his mark with his tongue, his free hand curving around her waist to pull her chest flush to his own.

She felt his lips pull into a grin against her skin, her reactions stroking his ego and her hands trailing down his chest to pull impatiently at his pajama pants. His smile vanished as he stuttered out a breath, her hand slipping into his clothes to grab him firmly and she looked up at him, confident at last.

* * *

Hermione groaned when the sun hit her eyes, throwing a hand over her face to shade herself. She was stretched haphazardly across her bed, with sheets still tucked in beneath her and her work robes still on. She sat up groggily, pushed her mane out of her face to wonder why she had slept so soundly when she had planned to work late into the evening.

She realized belatedly that it was an hour and a half later than she usually woke up and she shot out of bed, panicked. She stripped off her wrinkled clothes and threw on a new outfit, running out of her room and grabbing her shoes from beside the portrait hole and ran to her classroom, wand held in her teeth and books in her arms. She hated tardiness.

Her class was surely in disarray, Malfoy had spent the whole first week silent and she had never seen him focus in an academic setting, let alone think him capable of leading his own class. She agonized over what Minerva would think of her, sleeping in late and leaving a class full of impressionable students vulnerable to the irresponsibility and coldness of Draco Malfoy.

* * *

She burst in through the archway at the top of the stairs, looking over the balcony to see a surprising sight.

There, sat perfectly soundlessly and in order, was her class. They were all bent over their parchment, studiously writing while Draco sat at the desk in front, speaking softly to a Fourth Year female Hufflepuff.

"Good morning, Professor Granger." The girl greeted her happily before trotting back over to her desk and sitting down. Hermione smiled and took her seat beside Draco at the enlarged desk, turning her head and looking at him quizzically.

"I gave them time to write their first essay in class today. I know all of the other Professors are assigning essays this week as well, and few students do the summer reading, so I thought I'd give them a head start." He did not look up from his paperwork, but he was polite and to the point.

"Alright, that sounds very… considerate of you. The class seems to be going well though. I'm glad." Hermione felt off-kilter when she saw how smoothly the class was going, having expected him to be less capable than her when it came to teaching. She was simultaneously relieved that everything was fine, impressed with Draco, and sad that she was proven unnecessary.

"Well, not everyone wants to spend all of their nights working. Speaking of, how did your night go? I didn't hear you stumble in late last night, so I'm assuming you slept in your office?" He flipped to a new stack of papers, but his tone suggested he was actually interested in what she had to say.

"I actually fell asleep quite early. I don't really remember what happened, to be honest. I had planned to go over December's examination guides, iron them out, but I suppose I was more tired than I thought." Her brow furrowed as she tried and failed to remember the course of last night.

He smiled slightly at his desk, before fixing a neutral expression once more.

"Huh. Well, try not to fall asleep in the corridors."

* * *

 _Last night_

Draco internally groaned when he overheard Hermione telling Luna how excited she was to be working with students in such an ambiguous subject matter. She explained enthusiastically that the opportunities for curriculum development were boundless and that she was going to be up late revising her exam plans for the winter. Draco rolled his eyes before turning back to his meal.

Not interested in hearing her fumble through their apartment half asleep late at night, he slipped his hand into his pocket. He settled on a sleep potion and waited until she was having her last cup of pumpkin juice before dinner ended. He poured it into her cup and saw that she drank the whole goblet.

He smiled secretly at her back as he followed her back to the portrait, thinking her swaying and sleepy giggles were quite endearing. Her pink toenails stood out against the pale grey stones of the hallway and he carried her shoes in his right hand.

He dropped them by the portrait where she always left them and made sure she got into her bed safely before retreating to his room with a book, content with the knowledge that he would be undisturbed for the rest of the evening.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione, Harry and Ron sat together in the back corner of the Three Broomsticks in their favorite booth. They had been meeting every Monday night since they took jobs in different locations, with Harry and Ron working in the Auror Department and her at Hogwarts.

"So how is living with the ferret? He's keeping his hands to himself, right?" Ron questioned through a mouthful of fish, chips left over in his hand. "I never would have taken a job at Hogwarts if I knew I had to live with a Slytherin. Can't trust the lot of them. Er… at least not the men." He added on his last sentence when he saw the look in Harry's eyes, remembering Harry's fling with Parkinson in the previous year.

"You never would have taken a job at Hogwarts period, Ronald." She admonished gently, shaking her head while smiling at him.

"She's definitely got you there, mate. But how has it been going?" Harry let his hand rest behind Hermione's back in the booth; the two of them much closer than the boys were since the war. "Has Malfoy been respectful? He seems like he's changed a good deal since we were kids."

She looked up at this remark, not having heard anything about Draco from Harry since they were seventh years. "Have you been talking to him lately? He seems friendly with Luna too, but I can't imagine when they would have been in contact."

"Yeah, I became friendly with him and his mother during their trials following the battle. I visited his mother occasionally when they were on house arrest as well, and he and I had some good conversations over whiskeys in his library." He shrugged casually, "We're not best mates or anything, but he seems to be a decent guy. Has he done anything since you've been teaching together?"

"No, he's been perfectly professional and polite. He even led a class by himself today after I slept in." She took a sip from her butterbeer, and laughed when she saw Harry and Ron's eyes bug out and the idea of her sleeping in late. "Yeah, I have no idea how it happened either. I think I've just been staying up too late recently and I need to take it easy. Maybe I've got a bug or something." She shrugged and turned to ask Ron about his cases.

After a few more hours of conversation and catching up, Harry and Ron bought a round of firewhiskey to end the night. Laughing at Hermione's slightly flushed cheeks, they walked her up to the castle before kissing her cheeks and hugging her goodbye. Harry returned home to Ginny, and Ron went back to Lavender.

* * *

Hermione giggled as she stepped into her living room, toeing off her heels by the door and dropping her beaded bag on the couch. She had the sense to get a cup of water and avoid a hangover, but stopped at an odd feeling she got when she looked at Draco's door.

She sensed powerful wards over his door and wondered what it was that he had worked so hard to hide. Her curiosity and tipsiness got the better of her, and after waving her wand for a few moments, she got through. She thanked her reading of Severus Snape's ward notes, as Draco had clearly learned his protections from Snape.

Her eyes widened when she was met with a sudden wall of sound. He had clearly silenced his room, and she squinted in the darkness to see his thrashing form tangled in the sheets.

She paused in the doorway, trying to decide what she should do.

Decided, she walked over to him quietly, trying not to disturb him but unable to ignore his distress. He was shouting incoherently and she grew anxious as he increased his volume. She ducked an arm that flailed close to her head and cautiously reached out, hoping to shake him awake.

"Malfoy. Malfoy!" Nothing. "It's just a dream, please try to wake up! Everything's fine, you're at Hogwarts!" She shook him gently by the shoulder, and minded his tossing form. "Malfoy!" She tried again. "Draco!" She finally yelled, before a hand shot out to wrap around her wrist.

He tugged hard, pulling her into the bed and throwing a leg on top of her.

She froze in his arms, clearly startled by this development. "Malfoy?" She questioned, her voice muffled after he pressed her face into the skin of his neck. She tried to pull away, but he grunted and tightened his grip.

"Malfoy. You need to let me go." His grip was iron around her, but she tried again. "Draco?"

He burrowed his head deep into her hair, letting his hands drift to her lower back and pulled her even closer to him. A deep pleased grumble vibrated in his chest at the sound of his given name, and he pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek before letting out a quiet snore.

Her head was still warm and fuzzy from the butterbeer and firewhiskey, so she just shrugged and leaned into his arms. She would deal with this come morning.

It would be fine.

* * *

Hermione woke to an amazing smell and warm, firm arms. She made a happy noise before snuggling deeper into the warmth.

She paused her in nuzzling when she became more clear-headed, remembering how she had ended up in this comfy embrace and who, exactly, was doing the embracing. Her muscles tensed and she tried to slip out of his arms without waking him.

The large hands that had been resting across her lower back quickly slid up to her forearms, tightening almost painfully and Hermione found herself on her back, with Malfoy's face still nestled into the curve of her neck.

He pushed himself up to look down at her, his knees in between hers and her legs splayed to either side. She cried out in alarm, trying to wiggle away but he pressed his form down into hers to keep her still.

"Lonely enough to jump me in my sleep, eh Granger?" He smirked down at her, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "Didn't realize you were that aggressive."

"I am not aggressive at all, Malfoy! You were having a nightmare and I, a good person, tried to help you out. It's not my fault that you pulled me into bed and strangled me with your freakishly strong arms! I tried to leave multiple times; you're the one who's clinging. Not me!" She kept struggling to leave, frustrated and embarrassed that she couldn't get out of his hold.

"I'm not sure I believe you, Granger. You seem to be lingering quite long for someone that doesn't want to be here."

"You're pinning me down! What am I supposed to do?" She tried to wiggle away again, the strap holding up her dress falling low on her left shoulder.

His eyes darkened when the exposed smooth skin distracted him. He met her eyes quickly before a slow grin spread across his face and he realized another way to get under her skin.

He let his body drop further down, pressing her into the bed. She gasped, opening her mouth to protest vehemently but he beat her to it. He let one of his hands slide down to the outside of the top of her leg wrapping the limb around his hip and ground his hardness into her warm center.

"What are yo- Oh my god, Malfoy. What are you doing?" She gasped and mewled, her freed arm coming to his shoulder to push him off but she ended up just pulling him closer. More of her skin was revealed when her leg bent, his hand smoothly tracing up her leg to the edge of her panties to slip underneath.

He started at the feeling of her wetness and warmth, groaning deep into her hair and thrusting harder against her. He pulled back to see her flushed face and glazed eyes, dropped a hard kiss and small bite to her neck and quickly pushed himself up and off her.

He was gone before she realized what had happened.


	6. Chapter 6

"Your starting exams showed a weakness in your knowledge when it came to defensive magic, so today we will be going over protection spells. We'll drill them by splitting into pairs and having one partner cast basic, safe spells while the other defends his or herself. Professor Malfoy and I will demonstrate, just so you see what your spells should look like."

Hermione once again stood a few feet in front of Draco, shifting her pages on her podium and pulling her wand from her forearm holster. She tucked her hair behind her ear and stepped away from the podium, flicking her wand to push the desks to the sides of the room and turning to Draco.

"Professor Malfoy?" She cleared her throat and tied her hair back. He stepped up to face her, raising his wand and nodded to her. "Alright." She smiled gently.

" _Locomotor Wibbly. Langlock."_ Hermione threw the spells and watched them dissipate after hitting Malfoy's bright blue shield. He nodded at her and watched lazily as she stepped out of her battle stance.

"Alright, perfect. Any questions?" Hermione turned to the class, and no one responded. "Great. Split into pairs and Professor Malfoy and I will walk around to give correction and advice."

The class split off, spreading out across the classroom and the room began to light up with spell work and shields. Hermione stepped back to her desk and sat in the chair, deciding to work on some paperwork and give the students a few minutes to practice before offering instruction.

She felt Malfoy sit at his desk beside her, and saw him watch the students out of the corner of her eye. Although they had been teaching together smoothly, she had refused to make eye contact with him for the past week, afraid of what she would see in his knowing eyes.

He had not brought up the incident between them either, but he had been invading her personal space constantly and it was driving her insane. He pressed up against her back to get her her tea, brushed his leg against hers underneath the table at the Great Hall, and gently placed his hand on her lower back when they entered a room.

Hermione could swear that her heart was going to give out after the amount of times that her heart rate had shot to the moon. She had no idea what any of it meant, had no idea what to do, and had no idea what he was thinking, but she was planning on finding out.

After watching students practice on their own for a few minutes, they separated to walk amongst the students, keeping an eye out to ensure they weren't hit by a stray curse. They smoothly directed a few students to strengthen their shields, and Hermione focused on a pair of Gryffindor girls, quietly talking to them about their wand movements.

Draco was watching his students carefully, keeping Hermione's location in mind while dodging a wayward spell from some Slytherin boys. He carefully watched the two of them. They were watching Hermione intently, quietly laughing together before they cast a quiet spell in Hermione's direction.

Draco quickly got to her, wrapped his hand around Hermione's upper arm, and pulled her into him. The spell hit the wall behind her, charred the stone and left a large scorch mark.

Draco held her shoulders in his hands, his eyes searching her face and body to ensure she was alright. Her mouth was open, incredibly confused as to why he had grabbed her and why the class was so quiet all of a sudden.

Confident she was alright, Draco released her and stalked quickly to grab the two boys. He yanked them into the hallway without explanation and Hermione turned to the class, asking them to excuse them for a moment. By the time she turned back to him, he was gone.

* * *

Hermione ran out into the hallway, turning her head wildly to either way, searching for Draco and the boys. She ran down the hall, but heard shouting in the other direction.

She rounded the corner to see Draco holding one boy against the wall by his throat, with the other laying immobilized on the floor.

She stood still and out of sight, trying to understand what was going on before interfering. Fighting in a war had made her understand that some violence was necessary, and she trusted Draco to have a reason for this. She only hoped that his reason would become apparent within the next minute or so, because she was not willing to let this continue for long.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing cursing a bloody Professor? You could have seriously hurt her, you think this is some sort of bloody fucking game?" Draco growled into the student's face, baring his teeth and tightening his grip on the student.

"Come on, Malfoy. It's not as if you didn't curse mudbloods when you were in school. It's not as if we threw anything harmful. It was just a skirt-shortening charm." The boy laughed nervously, trying to appeal to his Professor's ex-Death Eater sentiments. "Like the old days, right?"

"Do not call her that. The war is over, moron. I will be watching you and your friends, and if you even look at her funny, I will end you. Do you understand?" He gripped the boy tighter, looking him dead in the eye to make sure he got the message. "Do you?"

"Yes, sir." The boy seemed deflated, unhappy that his Professor hadn't thought his attempted prank funny. He was also terrified; Draco's dark side was very intimidating.

He released the boy, his shoes dropping down to the ground and he released the boy on the ground from his spell.

"Get the fuck out of here." His hands came up to wipe his face and he ran his hand through his hair, leaning back against the wall when the boys had run off. He stayed there for a few minutes, leaning against the wall.

Hermione turned and walked back to her class, dismissing her students before leaning against her desk. She waited until Draco returned silently a few minutes later.

He faced her and wiped his face again, looking incredibly tired for early in the afternoon. She watched him, waiting for him to speak. He crossed his arms and exhaled heavily.

"Why didn't you interfere? I can't imagine that you're alright with me threatening your students." He frowned at her. "Have you crossed to the dark side?" He joked and tried to smile, but it came off much closer to a grimace.

She opened her mouth to respond, but paused thoughtfully. She walked over to him, the closest she had willingly been to him in a week.

She gently took his hand and unbuttoned his cufflink. She rolled up his sleeve, revealing his dark tattoo and traced her finger lightly over a long white scar that ran through it. She then pulled up her own left sleeve, revealing the slur carved into her skin.

She didn't look up at him, but felt his eyes on her face and his face was only inches from her own.

"There are no sides anymore, Draco." A shiver ran through him at the sound of his first name. "We all have light and dark in us, and force is sometimes necessary. I would have stepped in if you went too far. You didn't."

She stepped away from him, leaving the room and him behind.

He watched her as she left, realizing only when she was out of sight that he hadn't taken a breath since she touched him.


	7. Chapter 7

Draco was unsure of what to make of Hermione after their conversation. He had expected her to still be the Gryffindor Princess that was uptight, assuming and judgmental. He expected her to invade his personal space and question his comings and goings, but it was actually him that wanted to know more.

She was proving to be a quiet and polite roommate, but she was still frustrating in a completely unexpected way. He hated how she was never around; he wanted to push her buttons and make her blush.

He blamed it on his upbringing and pride, certain that he just loved making such an intelligent woman react to him in an incensed and unprofessional manner, but he knew it was more.

He craved her presence and her soft voice, but she kept avoiding him. He knew that she didn't know what to make of him and that she was confused by his kindness and polite nature, so he decided to up the ante one morning.

He waited in his room quietly with his ear pressed to the door. He would never allow a soul to know this, but he waited for more than a respectable amount of time. Once he heard the soft padding of her sleepy feet, he got ready to strike.

He waited until she walked to their shared bathroom, waited to hear the shower start and waited to hear the squeak of the shower curtain being opened and shut.

A huge grin spread across his face as he snuck over to the bathroom, tossing off his shirt to just leave him in his pajama pants. He knew she liked him shirtless because she always blushed when he walked around without his top, and he planned on using it to his full advantage.

Quickly schooling a neutral expression to his face, he silently opened the bathroom door and stepped into the steamy room. He walked up to the counter and grabbed his toothbrush, purposefully knocking a cup on the counter to alert Hermione of his presence. He wanted to make sure she knew he was there, so that she was hot and bothered, but not actually offended. He wanted to frazzle her, not assault her.

He grinned and held back a laugh as he heard her yelp and slip slightly in the shower. He heard a number of bottles fall to the ground and he waited for her to right herself.

"Is everything alright in there, Princess?" He asked calmly, as if his presence in the bathroom was nothing unusual. He forced himself to not think of her soaping herself up, and focus primarily on rattling her prim exterior.

"Wuh-wuh-what are you doing in here?!" She stuttered, trying to find something to cover herself and cursing the towel rack that hung on the back of the door, decidedly close to her intruder.

"I need to brush my teeth and wash my face. I do wake up this gorgeous, but sometimes I need to clean myself up a little bit. You know, general hygiene and all that." He grimaced at his ridiculous excuse, but tried to maintain a confident facade. He needed to make her see him as a sexual option before he could make her see him romantically.

He realized in that moment what he wanted. He didn't just want to bother her, although he definitely did enjoy ruffling her feathers, but he wanted her. Just her. He wanted to be the one making her laugh, hear about her day and comfort her. She was an intelligent, strong and beautiful woman and he wanted her to make him feel the way she had made him feel that day after class again. She made him feel as if he could be a better man, and she made him want to try.

He happily washed his face and began brushing his teeth, when she made a move he could never have expected.

She had been washing herself and thinking of how to escape her roommate or stun him, but she recognized how to beat him. How to really mess with his smugness.

She stepped out of the shower, fully nude and flicked her hair over her shoulder. She confidently made eye contact with him in the mirror, his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and his face dumbstruck.

Walking up to him, she reached past him and grabbed a towel from the rack. She toweled off her hair and smiled mischievously at him in the mirror, making no move to cover herself.

"Is everything alright there, Malfoy? You've got some toothpaste dribbling down your cheek."

She walked out of the bathroom, her head held high, proud that she had rendered the great Draco Malfoy speechless.

* * *

Hermione led the Fourth Years through their Tuesday class, watching the pairs duel and practice shield charms. She weaved through the classroom, giving instruction when needed and assessed which students needed supplementary training.

Draco sat at the desk in front of the classroom, grading essays from the first few weeks and adding notes for their students' future essays. He looked up occasionally but avoided watching Hermione, as he had yet to form a plan of attack when it came to seducing her.

He knew it would have to be slow, otherwise she would reject his sincerity. But he also knew he couldn't be too distant, because she would forget about him and someone else might swoop in. He needed to be firm and dominant, as she easily dominated all of the men in her life and wrapped them around her fingers. He couldn't be too dominant though, because she would see him as misogynistic and rude.

She was a complex and intelligent woman, and he knew that making her his would be no simple task.


	8. Chapter 8

Sitting in his office late at night, Draco was frustrated.

He ran his hand through his light hair and bit his lip before shuffling papers, trying to seem busy. He had long ago rolled up his sleeves and unbuttoned the two top buttons on his black button down shirt, but the stack of untouched essays remained frustratingly tall and his stack of finished essays remained stubbornly short.

It was a few days after his run-in with Hermione in the bathroom, and he was getting nowhere. He was tired of her wandering around their apartment in the late hours of the night. Her obsession with scheduling and her curriculum was driving him mad, so he thought that he could grade essays and take some of her workload. He hoped that with less to do, she would retire at more sane hours of the evening.

It was thirty minutes after three in the morning, and his patience was at its end.

He ran his hands over his face for the hundredth time that night, before blowing out his candle and standing up from his desk.

He walked to their classroom and opened the door as loudly as possible, slamming it against the wall. She let out a quiet yelp and spilled her inkwell across her lap.

"What are you doing in here? You can't just barge into the room, Malfoy!" She was frustrated, she hated being startled and she stained her favorite skirt. Her hair was falling out of its clip and her shirt was rumpled, but she looked as prim as always.

Draco just glared down at her, pulling his hand out of his pocket while she continued to rant at him, and he made a quick decision.

He couldn't live like this anymore. She was waking him up at all hours of the night with her sleepy fumbling around, she was tantalizingly attractive and he was, frankly, worried about her sleep schedule. There is no way that she could be working as hard as she was and still get enough sleep.

With all of this in mind, he schooled a neutral expression on his face, and took a deep breath. He knew he was going to be in deep shit for this, but he was just too tired.

So he stunned her.

* * *

Neville walked through the corridor with Luna, talking about her upcoming venture into Eastern Europe. She was planning on tracking down some breed of creature Neville had never heard of, but he listened like the devoted friend he was.

They heard footsteps from the next corridor over and he held his finger over his lips to signal her to quiet down, hoping to catch students out of bed. Normally he would try to look the other way and let them get away with mischief, but he was trying to convince Minerva to leave the Headmaster position to him when she retired next year, and he needed her to see that he could be a firm disciplinarian. They hugged the wall and peeked around the corner.

"Stupid woman, making me do stupid shit like this. I can't bloody believe I did this. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

Neville squinted at the blonde walking down the hallway, recognizing his light hair even in the low light.

"Draco? What are you doing?" Neville raised his wand to shed light on Draco. He quickly straightened up from his crouched position, flashing a quick awkward smile to the pair.

"Oh hello, Neville. How are you doing this evening? Luna." He nodded to the smaller blonde. She smiled dreamily back. Draco fidgeted slightly, seeming to have other things on his mind.

"Is anyone with you? I thought I heard something…" Neville tried to look around the broader man, but he followed his movement.

"Oh yeah, everything's fine. You two must have places to be though, it's quite late."

"Alright… Well please let me know if you need anything as you settle in. Classes are going well?"

Neville felt unsettled, but not in a threatened way. He somehow knew this was a personal matter and not something dangerous, but that did nothing to quell his curiosity. Draco seemed flustered, not threatening, so Neville turned to Luna and met her eyes questioningly.

Luna smiled at both men, winked at Draco and pulled Neville to follow her away. "Have a good night, Professor Malfoy." And she walked off without a glance backwards.

Draco hurried them away as quickly as possible, trying to stay cool and collected as they waved goodbye and disappeared down the corridor.

He looked both ways down the hall, trying to make sure no one else would interrupt him.

He then reached down to the ground and picked up the brunette, tossed her over his shoulder and continued his way to their chambers.

"Stupid, stupid woman. Can't believe I did this dumb shit. I'm so screwed." Draco continued cursing quietly, shifting Hermione's legs to make sure her bottom was covered by her skirt.

* * *

Draco gently shifted her in his arms, trying to lay her down in the bed as gently as possible, given the fact that she would probably have a headache from being hit with a stunning spell.

He tucked her into the sheets and put a glass of water by her bed with a red muggle pill that he remembered her saying cured headaches somehow. He didn't pretend to understand how muggle medicines worked, but he hoped that the nostalgia she felt when using muggle things would lessen her anger in the morning.

He took a deep breath and backed out of the room quietly, hoping that she wouldn't remember what happened that night.

He knew it was a long shot.

* * *

Draco shot up in bed gasping, completely soaked and freezing. He scrambled for his wand but couldn't find it and panicked when he realized who was holding it.

A furious and ink-stained Hermione Granger stood over him, next to his bed, holding their wands and an empty glass. He distantly recognized it as the glass that he had put by her beside a few hours before.

Her work clothes were crumpled from sleep and her hair frizzy and wild. He'd never seen anything more beautiful or terrifying in his life.

"How fucking dare you, Draco Malfoy! You stunned me in my own goddamn classroom and dumped me in my bed like some crazy murderer! You will never raise your wand to me again or I will snap it myself, you fucking lunatic! What if you had misfired? What if I hit my head on the way down? How do I know you didn't take liberties with my body while I was unconscious, you crazy asshole!" She screamed at him, waving their wands around and shooting red sparks into the air.

He could tolerate her shouting, but he would not tolerate her insulting his honor. He stood up quickly, grabbing their wands and throwing them across the room. She opened her mouth to shout again, but he beat her to it.

His voice was dark and firm, yet low.

"How fucking dare you question my honor, Granger." He took her wrists into his hands, pulling her close to his face and forcing her to look up at him. She breathed heavily, still furious at him. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to not shake her vigorously. He would never hit a woman, but she was pushing him to the brink of sanity and he didn't know how much longer he could last.

He released her abruptly, pushing her away from him and running his hands through his hair in frustration. "I am at the end of my fucking rope, Granger." He turned and started pacing, glad that she had stopped shouting but unable to quiet his mind.

She watched him pace, recognizing that she had lost her temper and that she should probably leave. It was completely unacceptable for him to curse her, but she had no idea why he was so aggravated and she didn't like being in situations that she didn't fully understand.

She tried to duck past him when he was turned around, but he moved sharply and she found herself pinned to the bed with an angry Draco above her. Her dark hair was splayed across across the white covers and her brown eyes were wide.

He held her still, just glaring at her. She opened her mouth a few times to try and speak, but she was unable to form a word, let alone a full sentence.

"I really can't stand you sometimes, Granger." His voice was a low growl; his hands were shaking as he struggled to hold himself together. "I am soaked, cold and exhausted. Don't you ever fucking do that again. Do you understand me?" He tried to regain his temper, but he didn't wait for her to respond before continuing. "I have never had this much trouble with another human being before, with the only exception possibly being Voldemort himself. You are a fucking nightmare, Granger."

He let himself fall onto his forearms and tucked his head into her neck, inhaled the fresh scent of her hair and tried to calm down.

"Malfoy, what are you doing?" She tried to move her hands, but he kept them in his firm grip.

"Please just shut up. You've been waking me up every night with your crazy schedule. Just lay still and go to sleep. It's barely morning." He released her hands and let his arms curl around her waist, pulling her into his chest as he rolled to the side. "Please just let me sleep."

She paused, stiff for a few moments before realizing he wasn't going to let her go anytime soon. She gingerly laid a hand on his pleasantly large bicep and heard his pleased grumble. He shifted her, pulling her closer, seeking out her warmth and smelling her skin.

For the first time in a week, they both slept through the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Hermione woke up to a warm and firm body surrounding her. She tried to lift her arm to scratch her face, but his large pale arm held it down. He grumbled when he felt her attempt at movement and nuzzled his face further into her neck.

"Um… Malfoy?" A low grumble responded. "I need to get up."

"It's barely seven, Granger. Go back to sleep." She shivered when his lips moved against her neck, and a hot flush spread up her neck. She was having troubling focusing, as he was very close and his bare skin was pressing against her own.

"Looking awfully comfortable there, Draco. Have a nice night?"

Draco's head shot up from her neck and he quickly pulled the sheet over her to ensure her decency. Her shirt had ridden up her stomach during the night. He vaguely remembered his hands pulling it up to feel her skin, but that was not important right now.

He sat up and glared at the men standing in his doorway. A woman's head peaked in from the hall, with a huge smile on her face.

"Merlin's balls, you twats. Get out of my room. I'll be out in a minute." Draco waved his wand to slam the door and threw back the covers to get out of bed. He got up, throwing on trousers and a t-shirt from the floor before resting his hands on the bed, looking down at Hermione.

Her eyes were wide and her face was burning red, but she was tongue-tied. She hadn't got a good look at who was in the door. She figured that it was probably Blaise, Theo and Pansy, as they were the only people that Draco knew well enough for them to barge into his apartment uninvited.

His shoulders looked broad and solid, she thought distantly, she wondered what they would feel like in her hands. She swore in her head, trying to focus on what he was saying.

"I'm sorry they burst in like that. I'm going to make breakfast for them, do you want any?" He quirked an eyebrow, as if it was perfectly normal for them to wake up together.

She swallowed nervously. "It's alright, I'll just get breakfast in the Great Hall."

He hovered over her for a few more moments, "Alright, well you're missing out. I make great French toast." He had a slight half smile on his face before he straightened up to leave the room.

"Why are you doing this?" Hermione loudly and suddenly asked, standing up as soon as she could and keeping distance between them.

"What do you mean?" He stuck his hands in his pockets.

"I just… I just don't understand why you're doing this. You're polite and efficient, you're sweet and protective but then all of a sudden you stun me in my office and then fall asleep on me." She gestured wildly, her hair unkempt from sleep and her shirt halfway up her stomach. "You've been constantly in my personal space, but also quiet and out of the way, I just don't understand what the hell it is that you're doing."

She breathed heavily to take a break from her little speech, "Are we friends? Is this how you are with everyone? What in the world is going on between us?" He opened his mouth to respond and stepped closer, but she took a step back only to hit a wall. "Because Ron and Harry don't do what you do and I don't have any friendships like this one."

He stepped closer again; gently grabbed her flailing arms by the forearms and put them by her sides.

"We're not friends." He said quietly, looking into her eyes with an intensity that made her entirely too warm. She looked down, feeling the hurt blossom in her chest.

"Alright, then. I guess I will just see you in class." She tried to move around him, avoiding his eyes.

"No, you don't understand." He tucked a strand of wayward hair behind her ear. "I am nothing like Potter or Weasley. I do not want to be your friend." He cupped her cheek and leaned in, kissing her neck softly and pressing his front to hers when he heard her mewl. "Do you understand?" He pulled back to meet her eyes, his lips tantalizingly close to hers.

"Um. Y-yes." His smell was surrounding her and he was clouding her mind. "Yes, I understand."

He pulled away from her, deeply satisfied by her response. He took her hand and pulled her behind him, taking her into the kitchen where his friends sat drinking tea.

"Good morning, you twats. If you burst into my room announced again, I'll neuter you." He kissed the top of Hermione's head before leaving her side to open the fridge and pull out ingredients for breakfast. His friends' eyebrows rose at this display of affection, but they coolly kept their surprise to themselves. They would ask later.

Hermione sat and took the cup of tea that Pansy handed her. She had faced down the Dark Lord, she could handle breakfast with the snakes.

* * *

Hey, just wanted to say thanks for the reviews. I'll keep aiming for a chapter a day, and I really appreciate the feedback. Thanks White Bishop for the idea for Blaise and Theo!

Have a great night - Jay


	10. Chapter 10

Hermione was incredibly confused. Draco had been perfectly clear with what he wanted, but she did not understand what it was that she herself needed. She knew she needed someone intelligent, loyal and mature, but she only had had a few relationships in the past and she felt completely out of her element.

Did Draco want her only for her body? Did he want a casual relationship or something more serious? Did Hermione herself want something casual? She knew that she was attracted to him, it wasn't out of the question. Was Draco expecting her to be some refined society wife or just a woman to see in secret?

She needed more information.

* * *

Hermione paced back in forth in front of Draco in their classroom. He was leaning against the desk watching her unobtrusively, letting her have the time to quiet her mind before speaking. He thought she was quite adorable when frazzled, but he didn't want to interrupt and further mystify her.

She halted her movement and stood still, drawing her arms up to cover her stomach and clearing her throat. She frowned, looking at him and trying to understand what was happening.

"So you're not interested in friendship?" She asked.

"Not at all." He replied easily. He was patient when it came to the things he wanted. He had been under house arrest for years, he knew how to wait.

"Do you just want sex? Or for me to be some secret affair behind doors? Because I am not going to allow myself to be kept away from the public as if I'm some secret shame." She clasped her hands and looked down at them, uncomfortable with discussing sex with her ex-enemy.

"I want you. In your entirety." He remained firm.

"It doesn't bother you that I'm a mudblood?" She asked, doubting that such a prejudiced young boy could grow to want her.

"The war is over, my father is out of my life. I was taught to hate from infancy." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "It took me a long time to understand that everything I had been raised to believe was just complete bullshit. It would be the same as you finding out that the sky was not blue, but instead red.

I emulated my father throughout my childhood. He appeared to be a powerful and respected man, and that was and is all that I want in life. I was taught that blood purity was an integral piece of that power and strength. The war changed all of that.

The home that I grew up in and loved was soaked in blood. I lived with the most feared wizard of our time, and I saw that blood meant nothing. I helped prisoners of my house escape, got my mother out of the war alive and mostly in tact, and then cut my father out of my life. Blood does not mean anything. Lucius is my father by blood, but he is not my family. Your blood is not magical, but you are one of the most talented witches I have ever seen." He stepped closer to her and took her hands in his own.

"I am incredibly and unfailingly sorry for everything I and my family put you through. But I don't want to be your friend."

He lifted her left hand to his mouth and kissed her palm softly, but surely. "I am not one of your Gryffindor boys that will follow orders and be satisfied with brotherly affection." He lifted her right hand to his mouth and kissed her other palm.

He slipped his hands to her waist and pulled her close, turning them around slowly and pushing her back to his desk. He picked her up and set her on the desk, moving to stand between her legs and dropping his mouth to her ear.

"I want you, Hermione." She shivered at the sound of her first name coming from him.

He licked a long trail up her neck, ending behind her ear and gently taking her earlobe in his teeth. He curled around her like a snake and let his hand travel into her hair to tenderly pull her face up to meet his eyes.

"What do you want?" He smiled down at her, enjoying the pink in her cheeks. She bit her lip and tried to hold in a moan at his proximity and warmth.

She was in a love-hate relationship with his body. It was broad and hard and just so tantalizing warm, but she couldn't think when he got so close to her.

"C-can you please take your hand out of my hair?" She asked breathlessly, putting unsure hands up to his chest to tentatively push him away from her.

He pulled lightly on her hair, fisting his hand and keeping her close. "Why, is it distracting you?" He chuckled sinfully and let his lips lightly brush against hers. He met her eyes confidently. "I'm waiting for an answer, Granger."

She swallowed thickly and met his eyes cautiously. His eyes were dark with lust but focused. Determined.

"So you want me for me? Not just some quick lay?" She repeated her earlier concern, trying to make sure his desires were genuine. She was stalling.

"Nothing about this will be quick, Granger." He smirked, pulling her closer. "I'm not going to make the decision for you. So what'll it be?" He tilted his head and waited.

She looked up at him, frustrated that her brain was failing her. She couldn't think when she was touching him. She carefully wrapped her fingers around his collar.

She slowly pulled him down and kissed him, letting out a small sigh against his mouth. He grumbled deep in his chest, letting her kiss him softly and pulling her close.

He was content with this chaste kiss for a few moments, but she deepened the kiss quickly. He pulled her hair and poured all of his want and craving into her, dropping his hands to cup her bottom and pulling her close to grind into the apex of her thighs.

Her head fell back and she moaned, holding him tighter as he licked and bit at her neck.

"Oh my god, please don't – uh – please don't leave a mark. We have – oh, fuck – class in the morning." She struggled to speak when he ground hard into her again.

He pulled away from her, closing his eyes tightly and trying to get ahold of himself.

"Don't swear like that, Granger." He ran his hands over his face and stepped away for a moment. He needed to gather himself before he took her on his desk.

"Don't swear? What do you mean? You swear all the time, Draco." She frowned, her mind clearing with his distance but she hated the sudden cold that came with his absence.

"Don't call me 'Draco', don't swear. Don't look at me like that, and stop biting your lip, merlin." He turned around and fisted his hands multiple times. She didn't think she'd ever seen him this disheveled.

"Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry but I don't want a mark, it would look unprofessional to our students and I don't want the-" He turned around sharply and kissed her hard, spread her legs and pulled her thigh up to wrap around his hips.

"You make me so crazy, Granger. You're fucking sexy when you curse and moan." He bit her neck hard, definitely leaving a mark. "I'm trying to take things slow with you and hold myself back, but I can't do that if you call me by my first name and moan like that." He slipped his hand down her stomach to rest between her thighs.

"Uh – oh my god – this isn't very slow, Draco." She laughed but then moaned when he slid a finger into her panties. She was embarrassingly wet and shifted to try and hide it, but he lifted her chin to hotly bite her lip and kiss her again.

"I'm sorry, love. You're just so fucking wet." He rested his forehead on her shoulder and breathed heavily. "Merlin, I could just slide in right now and take you on this desk." He slid a finger inside of her and groaned.

He took a deep breath and removed his hands from her. He pulled her off the desk to stand in front of him and he kissed her slow and deep.

"Slow. Alright, we can do this." She laughed slightly, blushing bright and taking his hand.

He led her out of the classroom and threw an arm over her shoulders, tucking her into his side. They headed to the Great Hall for dinner, and he grinned secretly when he realized she had forgotten to cover his love bite.

Being with her was going to be fun.


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione didn't have a lot of experience with relationships, but she was sure that what Draco described as 'slow', was anything but. This thought ran through her mind as she felt his hand slide up her thigh under the table at breakfast, slipping under her skirt to feel her soft skin. They had been together for a few days and he was constantly touching her or looking at her with those heated eyes of his.

He was driving her insane with his gaze. It felt possessive and erotic and the weight of his attention was creating a growing ache in her that needed to be satisfied. She had never felt hunger like this before, not with Ron and not when casually dating other men. She craved his smell, his taste, the feel of his broad shoulders and his large hands. Her sanity was slipping as he continued this onslaught of teasing touches and fleeting kisses.

As much as she wanted him, her need for control kept her in check. They seemed to be playing some torturous game, waiting to see who would crack first and jump the other. She needed it to be over, but she couldn't lose.

* * *

He smiled innocently at her over his breakfast, seemingly content to rest his hand on her thigh while they talked casually about their lesson plan for the day. His eyes, however, betrayed his nonchalant demeanor. They were dark and focused, determined to unravel the prim and proper Gryffindor.

Like in their school days, he was determined to bring her to her knees. It was simply a more pleasurable outcome nowadays.

She focused on her thoughts, remembering her lessons plans and letting out a small 'eep' when his fingers wandered underneath her panties. He stroked the smooth skin of the curve of her bottom and let his thumb lightly brush her clit, smiling sinfully as she stuttered.

She glared at him, flushing when she realized she had lost their unspoken battle of wills. Not easily defeated, she decided that she wanted to keep him on his toes, as he so easily did with her.

She slid her chair out from the table and walked to his room swiftly, offering no explanation when he questioned her. She simply motioned that she would be right back.

* * *

Draco was cleaning their dishes in the sink, wondering why Hermione had vanished as she had. He had thought their breakfast was going well. Hopefully he hadn't offended her with his forwardness, he just couldn't get enough of her. She was soft and pale and beautiful. He hoped she would come back soon.

Just as he was getting ready to leave for class, he heard his door open.

He was still putting books and paperwork in his bag when he heard her enter, and he spoke without turning around.

"Hey, is everything alright? I didn't mean to offend you or anyth-" His mouth went dry when he looked up, mesmerized by the lust and determination radiating off of her. She had taken off her sensible pajamas and stood in front of him wearing only one of his button ups and her pink lace panties.

He could see a long strip of skin where the shirt was unbuttoned. She wasn't wearing anything underneath his shirt, and his mind went blank.

He stood there dumbly, not even hearing his bag drop to the floor and spill open. Her dark eyes met his and she walked over to him, coming to stand before him and pushing gently on his chest until he sat in a dining chair. She straddled him, letting her palms rest on his chest and pulling slightly on his tie.

She let her fingers run through his hair, kissing his cheek and neck softly while inhaling his spicy scent. She smiled as she felt him hardening against her and ground down onto him, letting her head fall back for a moment and moaning quietly. She brought her chin back down to face him, smiling at his dazed look and she kissed his cheek one last time before getting up and transfiguring a work dress from his shirt.

She grabbed an apple off of the table and left, not looking back at the dumbfounded blonde behind her.

* * *

Hermione held back a laugh when she saw Draco's glare across their classroom. He had been a few minutes late to class, so he sat in the back of the room to watch her lead the lecture for the First Year students.

His eyes had not left her the entire hour.

She paused mid-sentence when she felt something strange happening. She looked over at Draco to see him smirking evilly, and she watched him tuck a flash of pink lace into his suit pocket. Her eyes widened when she felt a sudden breeze underneath her dress and realized how revealed she was.

Hermione struggled to control the dark pink flush rising up her neck and looked down at her podium, rifling papers to make it look like she was searching for something while gathering herself again. She could not believe that he would summon her panties in front of their class. She felt the warm ache return with a vengeance and fought the urge to rub her thighs together.

He kept his hand in his pocket throughout class, stroking her panties smugly and feeling immense satisfaction with himself.


	12. Chapter 12

Draco watched her lean against the bar, admiring the way her curves were accentuated by her stance. The lean grey work dress she had transfigured that morning hugged her body flatteringly yet conservatively, and her black heels highlighted her smooth calves. He loved the way her honey brown hair fell down her back in wild curls and smiled when she tucked a rebellious lock behind her ear.

He had yet to get her into bed with him, but he could be patient. He knew that by waiting, he would simultaneously ensure she took his desire seriously and heighten the tension between them to guarantee explosive release for them both. He needed to make sure she would come back for more.

He was, however, finding it hard to keep a respectable distance when she had strangers drunkenly pawing at her. They had yet to discuss how they were planning on sharing their relationship with their friends, so he remained in his seat across the room, but kept a close eye on her. His seatmates watched him warily, recognizing his stiffness and the resolute look in his eyes.

"So how long have you been sleeping with Granger?" Pansy asked him, stirring her drink and happily watching Draco's jaw tick. "You seem awfully attached for this to be a purely physical relationship."

Draco merely grunted in response, not taking his eyes off the brunette. He did not like lying to his friends, so he didn't. But he also respected Hermione enough to not talk before she was ready.

Blaise chuckled quietly and let his arm rest on the back of the booth behind Pansy. "I don't know, with the way Granger's looking tonight, it looks like she'll definitely be going home with someone. The question is, whether or not it's you." They smirked as they watched Draco's hand tighten on his firewhiskey.

Hermione waited for her order while chatting with the bartender, oblivious to the discussion going on at the snakes' table. She jumped as a man sidled up to her, her stomach turning when his hand settled intrusively on her waist. He smelt horrible and far too moist. She turned to scold him and push him off, but he leaned in a quickly kissed her cheek with a wet smack.

She was incredibly startled and put her hands up to push his chest away from her, but she found herself staring at a tall muscular back instead of a drunken slob.

A loud smack silenced the bar and the man went down. Draco's fist recoiled swiftly and Hermione found herself being whisked out of the bar, tugged by her hand and pulled into the street. She was stunned into silence by the sudden turn her night had taken, and dumbly let him drag her back up to Hogwarts.

* * *

Draco shoved her against the wall as soon as the portrait swung closed, sliding his hands up her legs to pull off her dress and throwing it hastily behind them. He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her in for a frantic but deep kiss, letting his fingers tangle in her hair and firmly yanking her head to the side. He trailed his lips up her skin. Breathing hotly and hard, he bit down decisively and then soothed her with his tongue when she whimpered.

He let his hands slide down her curves smoothly, shifting to slow, languid kissing before picking her up and wrapping her legs against his waist. He ground his hardness into her center, reveling in the warmth radiating from her and he pulled his head back to look at her face.

"What do you want, Hermione?" He kept his hard length pressed into her, feeling how soaked she was even through his slacks.

She had yet to speak to him that night, the only sounds coming from her being moans, whimpers and gasps as he ravaged her. Her face flushed hotly and she bit her lip, looking up at him through lust-fogged eyes.

"I want you, Malfoy." He smiled, knowingly. He pulled her legs upwards slightly, causing her to grind harder against him. She shifted at the much-needed pressure, hoping to relieve herself somewhat.

"You don't sound like you want me that much. Perhaps I should have left you to that lush at the bar? You did abandon me this morning, after all." She grimaced when she remembered leaving him that morning. She prayed he would not leave her in the same situation.

"No, please. I want you, Draco." She stopped, smiling cleverly when she realized how to push him over the edge. She tilted her head back, revealing the long column of her neck and let out a needy whimper.

"Fuck, Draco. I need you so fucking badly." She moaned. He stiffened against her, his grip tightening on her waist and his eyes darkened to an almost onyx shade.

He quickly turned them, holding her up before marching to his room and dumping her in the middle of his wide bed. He flipped her over so she was on her stomach, ass high in the air and he pulled her panties up so that her ass was almost fully bare. He slapped it hard, smirking when she cried out in surprise but then laved the red mark with his tongue, letting his fingers dip down into her ruined panties.

He groaned when he felt how wet she was for him again, his fingers sliding smoothly over her skin and he couldn't resist allowing a finger to slide into her slit.

She let out a content sigh against the sheets, moaning as he surged deep with his fingers. She tried to get up to help his disrobe, but he kept a firm hand between her shoulder blades.

"Just relax, love." He slid his tongue up her back, unclipped her bra with his free hand and let his mouth glide across her bared skin. He quickened his pace below, grinning against her skin when he saw that the flush on her face continued to the tops of her newly revealed breasts.

"Oh my God, Draco." She sighed against the pillow, her curls thrown across the bedspread haphazardly. Her muscles were tense as she resisted the pleasure, afraid of being driven too high. "Draco, stop, I'm going to cum! Oh my God, Draco, don't fucking stop!" He slid down to add his tongue to the mix. Her demands shifted suddenly, and her body turned to jelly as he brought her a long-awaited release.

He gently caressed her back, letting her come down from her mindless pleasure before stroking his soft head against her overly sensitive opening. She moaned brokenly, her mind already lost in hedonistic daze when he began pushing inch by thick inch into her.

Her toes curled at the delicious stretch, her body fighting back after having gone without for so long. She felt his hands tighten on her hips almost enough to bruise and she heard his sharp intake of breath at her tightness.

"Oh fuck, Granger. You're not a virgin, are you?" He asked, pained in his restraint. She shook her head and leaned back to kiss him over her shoulder, confirming her consent again.

"Fucking hell, Granger. You're so tight it should be illegal." He grunted lowly as he stretched her, completely lost in the feel of her smooth warm channel. "I could fuck you all my life and never get tired of this." He panted into her ear, leaning forward to smell her neck and hair before taking a firm hand full of curls and pulling back, admiring the bow in her back and the sounds she made when he cupped her sensitive breasts.

"Salazar, you like it when I pull your hair, don't you?" He grinned smugly, keeping his head by her shoulder while pounding relentlessly into her from behind.

She refused to answer such a demeaning question, letting her head hang forward in his relaxed grip and losing herself in the sensations of his thickness filling her finally. He growled, not accustomed to being ignored.

"I am not to be ignored, witch. I will stop if you ignore me again. Understood?" He punctuated each word with a hard thrust, but pulled almost all the way out and help himself there after he asked her if she understood.

She nodded desperately, "Yes, yes, I love it when you pull my hair. Please just keep fucking me, god, Draco." She moaned again when he slid back in, even deeper than before.

"Merlin, you really are a naughty witch, aren't you? Letting yourself be fucked like this from behind. Makes me wonder what other delightful things you would try." He smirked into her neck, holding her close to him before flipping her over.

He pulled back to rest on his forearms, keeping himself between her thighs in the bed and putting a cushion underneath her back to warrant maximum pleasure. He slid back in, immediately satisfied with her heat and softness. He lowered himself to rest by her head, gathering her close in his arms while firmly but slowly driving himself further and further inside of her.

She moaned, whimpered and cried, scratching down his back with his fingernails to try and hasten this tortuously slow pace, but he was determined.

"Hermione, you are a beautiful witch with many suitors. Men will want you, and I am saying that they will never have you. You are inherently mine, do you understand?" He sounded shockingly composed for being balls deep in her, but he was still sweating with the effort.

She was having a harder time keeping herself together, shuddering with toes curled and eyes tight. "I understand, I understand, oh god please, don't stop!" She clutched him in close, feeling his heartbeat against hers.

"So you are mine and I am…?" He smirked down at her, holding his composure over her teasingly but triumphantly.

"God fuck!" She cried when he thrust particularly hard, "You're mine and I'm yours, I'm your girlfriend and you're my boyfriend, just please yes don't stop!" She screamed when he dropped his head to the curve of her neck, satisfied with her answers and now focused on driving them both to nirvana.

He tucked his hands underneath her bum, pulling her into position for him to drive deeper and harder and she screamed through two orgasms before falling limp and boneless underneath him. He groaned quietly when he came as well, holding her tight to him before pulling back to let her head rest on his chest.

He stroked her hair reverently, casting a cleaning spell on the both of them and kissing the top of her head before they both fell asleep.

* * *

Pansy returned to the table with three drinks and an icepack, smiling triumphantly. She handed a drink to Blaise and stirred her own happily, laughing at the groan from their third companion.

Theo sat with an icepack to his bruised face, frowning grumpily at his two mates.

"I thought you said he wasn't going to get violent…" Theo grumbled at Pansy and she laughed, passing him her drink as well.


	13. Chapter 13

Hermione woke up in Draco's bed for the second time in a week. She smiled when she felt his arms tighten around her, enveloping her in his comforting warmth. She took her time to study him, enjoying the insight that seeing him in an undeniably vulnerable state gave, letting her free hand stroke his chest gently.

She let her fingers trace across the numerous scars on his chest and arms. She knew the scars that Harry marked Draco with in their Sixth Year, but there were many thick deep scars that she could not explain. She wondered if she would ever know how he got them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when he raised a hand to tuck a curl behind her ear. Her hair was a chaotic mess of waves and frizz, and it made him give a contented grumble to feel it between his fingers.

He smiled at her, bringing her hand from his chest to kiss her palm.

He pulled her closer with the arm still wrapped around her waist, threading his other hand into her hair to firmly grip her and take her in a deep kiss.

"Regretting it yet?" He smiled slyly, releasing her mouth with a satisfied groan. "Have you planned an escape route with your Gryffindor kin?"

He kissed down her neck as she giggled, sliding his other hand down to join his first around her waist and pull her underneath him.

"Of course I –oh!- don't regret it! Last night was –aha oh my gosh- amazing. Do you regret it?" She blushed, unsure of herself when confronted with his purring confidence and determination.

"Absolutely, love." He bit her neck lightly, pleased by her responsiveness. "In fact, I regret it so much I am about to do it all over again. And perhaps in the shower afterwards."

She smiled against the side of his neck and her laugh rolled into a moan. He tugged the blankets over them and his own chuckles and groans joined hers.

* * *

"Are you serious, Granger?"

Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her chair before straightening her back and lifting her chin assertively. She was a Gryffindor, she had faced down the Dark Lord, and she had broken up with Molly Weasley's son. She could face down her boyfriend.

"Yes, Malfoy. We barely know each other, and I do not sleep with people I don't know."

"I was not aware that I was required to pass a written before having sex with you." He arched an eyebrow elegantly, walking easily from the kitchen to sit opposite from her at the table. "I've already slept with you though, it's not as if this will work retroactively and suddenly make that proper. Or the three times this morning."

She grumbled, displeased with his ease and cool nature. She envied his ability to remain calm under scrutiny, knowing that she tended to be somewhat hotheaded herself.

"It's not a written exam, Malfoy. I just want us to know more about each other, as if we're a regular couple dating and getting to know one another for the first time." She cleared her throat nervously, dropping her gaze to her hands. "We did get into this fairly quickly. How am I supposed to know what it is you want for your future or expect out of a relationship?"

He watched her evenly and made a silent decision. "Alright, Granger. I'll play your game, but I want to do it my way. Deal?" He cupped her chin with his hand, and she met his eyes.

She smiled, happy to see that he was willing to meet her halfway.

"Deal."

* * *

"Goddamnit, I can't believe I agreed to this." Hermione muttered, tucking her feet underneath her to sit on the floor by the coffee table.

Draco wore a smug smirk as he sat the small clear potion bottle and cup of water next the firewhiskey bottle.

"Alright, Granger. Ready?" He loved taking the advantage to trick Hermione whenever possible. She dejectedly nodded.

"Right, so the rule is that you get asked a question and you can either drink the veritaserum or the firewhiskey. Veritaserum is, quite obviously, incredibly strong, so we will place a drop of the potion in the cup of water. That way it will only last one question and we won't have to deal with any side effects. Agreeable?" He quirked his head at her and she nodded again. "I also require that we each take three shots before beginning." He smirked at her sudden look of outrage.

"You didn't say that when you explained this earlier!" She frowned at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "There is no way I am taking shots before we even start! We haven't even eaten dinner yet!"

She knew she needed to get him to compromise on the shots, as her own tolerance was limited to one or two drinks regularly. She did not intend to get sloppy or sick.

"Alright, well I guess it's true what they say about Gryffindors, then." He smirked, taking one, two, and then finally three shots. "Your lot just can't keep up with us snakes." He met her eyes stubbornly and appeared unfazed by the alcohol.

She gritted her teeth. Normally a small jab about her house would do little to rile her, but she couldn't help but see the unspoken challenge he presented. People knew her as a "good girl". A bookworm and insufferable know-it-all. Frigid. Prim.

She tossed back the three shots, concentrating hard on her muscles to keep the disgusted shiver at bay. She licked her lips and met his eyes determinedly.

"First kiss?" She drank from the water.

"Victor Krum. Fourth Year. Yours?" He took the glass from her.

"Pansy Parkinson. Fourth Year. Do you wish you could have continued things with Krum more seriously?" She took the glass from him.

"No. Do you still have feelings for Pansy?" She passed the glass back to him.

"No. To be honest, I never really felt anything romantic for her. She was just someone that I was raised with and expected to be with. Do you wish you could have continued with Weasley?"

"Not at all. We were just entirely wrong for each other in almost every way. Have you ever been in a serious relationship?" She watched him cautiously.

"No." He paused for a moment, passing the water back to her before he asked. "Are the two of you as close as you were before dating?"

"Yes. But by the time we started dating we were not as close as we used to be." She looked down to avoid his inquisitive expression. "You know, neither of us has had to drink any firewhiskey yet. This doesn't seem like a good plan, love." Her cheeks were getting hot and flushed from the alcohol.

"Did you know that you talk louder when you're drunk?" He leaned closer, kissed her forehead and pulled back. "You need to ask a question."

He smiled secretly when he noticed the endearment she'd dropped in unintentionally. He normally would not have let that pass. Normally.

* * *

She left to the bathroom after another hour of talking. He chucked quietly when he saw her tipsy tilting and heard her giggles.

He took the bottle back to the kitchen and tucked it into the rest of his stash. He knew they wouldn't need the firewhiskey option but he wanted her to feel like she had options if she got uncomfortable.

He was, however, a Slytherin. He appreciated efficiency. So having a slightly drunk Hermione meant she would be more open and relaxed. She would also be less likely to notice the truth serum in those first three shots.


	14. Chapter 14

Murmurs rose from the student body in the Great Hall as many students watched the two Defense Professors eat at the Staff Table. About a month into school, students had quickly begun noticing Professor Malfoy's subtle claim on Professor Granger.

He used small gestures to confirm his affections. Intentionally doing things that would appear polite yet casual to the customary onlooker: a hand on the lower back to guide her into a room, tucking her into his side when stray curses came close in dueling lessons, and having her tea ready for her at breakfast when she got there late. Professor Malfoy was not a fan of public displays of affection, preferring to use respectful but physical methods of warmth to remind her of his presence. It was a wholly unintentional consequence that he happened to have to touch her habitually.

Students were quickly polarizing in their opinions of the couple. Rumors were always easy to latch onto in the student population, but news of the Gryffindor Golden Girl Hermione Granger being romantically involved with King of Slytherin and Ex-Death Eater Draco Malfoy was exceptionally notable and quick to spread.

The students seemed to be splitting off into factions. Both Professors were incredibly attractive and well liked; so many students were disappointed to realize their fantasies would never come true. While a majority of the students understood that these daydreams were foolish and unrealistic, a subgroup of fervent girls in Slytherin and Ravenclaw gripped onto the possibility of a lusty encounter with the mysteriously dark and powerful Defense Professor. These girls were getting increasingly more desperate as they watched Professor Malfoy focus more and more on Professor Granger as time went on.

Most of the girls in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff believed the couple cute and were thrilled to see Professors Malfoy and Granger's elusive displays of affection. They would hide behind corners in the corridors, check broom closets and watch them during classes, hoping to catch a romantic scene and watch things unfold. They enjoyed his quiet strength and her open ferocity.

Finally, many of the older men, especially in Slytherin and Gryffindor, were outraged by their evolving closeness. They saw it as a betrayal to their cause and an affront to what they fought for in the war. The Slytherins saw Professor Granger as a disgusting mudblood; she was the prime example of the decline in pureblood society. She was confident, beautiful and intelligent, and in an authority role. There was nothing worse in their eyes. She would pollute the Malfoy line, she spat on tradition repeatedly with her preaching of creature rights, and she promoted a strong feminine image in their school.

The Gryffindors, on the other hand, saw Professor Malfoy as a filthy Ex-Death Eater and traitor to their society. Many of the older students were not knowledgeable of his part in the war, and assumed that he must have murdered, raped and abused innocents as many Death Eaters did in the war. They saw Professor Malfoy as a predator, tainting the image of one third of the Golden Trio and seeking to hurt her.

The reactions started out small. Dirty glares in halls, mild insubordination in class, the occasional rude hand gesture. Students would whisper behind their hands, watching the two very closely to see if their suspicions would be confirmed.

Slowly, things began to escalate.

* * *

Hermione hated her height. She missed the days when boys were shorter than her and she disliked having students that she had to look up at. That was the major reasoning behind her decision to wear heels to class. She liked the additional assurance and command she felt when she had height to her advantage.

She cursed her habitual loss of her everyday heels. They were no doubt under Draco's bed or tucked behind his armoire, but she lacked the necessary time to find them this morning.

She hastened down the corridor, pushed her hair out of her face and readjusted the papers in her bag. While looking down to adjust her things, she missed a shadow emerging in front of her.

She bumped into a firm chest and felt hands wrap around her upper arms uncomfortably. She flinched and tried to step back, but the hands kept her in place. She frowned deeply, looking up into the face of a vaguely familiar younger man. His green and silver tie identified his house, but she couldn't remember his name. He wasn't taking NEWT level Defense.

"I'm so sorry for bumping into you, I was fixing my bag." She laughed good-naturedly, her smile bright but the hairs of the back of her neck stood up and a deep feeling of discomfort settled low in her stomach.

His smirk curled slowly across his face and his eyes glinted cruelly.

"Not a problem, Professor Granger." Three more men stepped out from the shadows beside them, snakes circling the lioness. "You should be careful where you wander. You never know what might happen."

Hermione's friendly façade dropped, but she kept an unruffled expression. She detested his hands on her and her skin crawled with the desire to strike him, but she resisted. She knew that these situations between Slytherins and Gryffindors grew heated rapidly. Ron and Harry tended to get into fights too easily, and they had all depended on her ability to keep their tempers in line.

"I can handle myself, but thank you for the thought. Would you please release me? I have a class to teach." She feigned nonchalance, but the longer this interaction continued, the more tense she felt.

He took his hands off in a show of insincere compliance and smiled innocently.

"Of course, Professor. Didn't mean to intrude. Have a great day!" He backed off, his men walking away with him into the quiet corridor behind her.

She grimaced, rubbing her sore arms and fixed her hair. She knew that she must be late and that Draco must be concerned. Her trip to the library was supposed to be quick and straightforward, but the Slytherins had turned a five-minute errand into a half hour excursion.

* * *

She snuck into the back of the classroom, nodded and smiled to Draco. She answered a few questions that students in the back had, and continued her day as normal.

She occasionally paused to rub her sore arms and missed Draco's slight confused frown.


	15. Chapter 15

Draco and Hermione traded blows, both slightly sweating and getting flushed. They were in the Room of Requirement for their sparring session, having fallen behind slightly on their plans due to frequent sexual distractions.

They had tried valiantly to stay on track the three previous days, but they continued to veer off track. The first day, Hermione wore tight black pants, intending to optimize flexibility and mobility. Draco found other uses for that flexibility.

The next day, Draco "forgot" a shirt to work out in and needed to spar sans a shirt to keep his work shirt crisp for their class. This led to Hermione being held under the backs of her thighs and her lips leaving multiple red and pink marks down his smooth pale chest.

Unfortunately, the third day they failed to make it out of their chambers at all. Hermione had gotten up before him to throw on work out clothes, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her back into their warm comfortable bed.

Sometime, Draco wasn't sure when, his bed had stopped being his. It became _their bed._

This morning, however, they made it out of bed. Hermione had been determined to keep in shape and practice their techniques before introducing physical combat to their classes later this afternoon. Draco had been loath to let her out of bed but she stunned him with a deep kiss before fleeing quickly back to her room.

He'd groggily reached for her and frowned when he came up with nothing but cool air. He missed her when she left him.

Draco blinked when he felt his face forced to the side and looked down at his girlfriend to see her cover her mouth.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you that hard; are you alright?" She panicked, quickly coming up to check his jaw while he stared down at her. Her big brown eyes were filled with regret and concern and her hands were gentle and careful.

He smiled, ruffled his hair and took her hand in his, away from his face. Her strike hadn't hurt him seriously, but it felt nice to have her soothe the ache.

Her eyes widened when she saw him ruffle his hair. She had never, not once, seen him do that. It was so… Hermione. Seeing her mannerism on him was disconcerting.

"I'm fine, love. Don't worry. You're probably just trying to hide your pride in the fact that you finally got a hit in." He smiled down at her, expecting her to fuss longer but she paused, staring at him with a strange expression on her face. "Are you alright? It really didn't hurt that badly."

"No, I'm sorry. Everything's fine." She smiled, giving a small laugh. "I've just never seen you do that before." She smiled at him, kissing his cheek and squeezing his hand in hers.

"Do what before?" He tilted his head at her.

She tucked a curl behind her ear and smiled up at him. "I've just never seen you mess with your hair like that before." He frowned in confusion, so she continued. "It's just… Strange to see you do that. That's my move. I do that when I'm distracted or thinking about something else." She shrugged and looked down. "It might be silly, I just never imagined that we would rub off on each other like that."

He grinned at the innuendo before kissing her forehead. "It's not strange to think of us rubbing off on each other, love. We do that quite a lot." He let his hands drop to her hips and rubbed sensually against her lower abdomen.

She laughed and let her arms wrap around the back of his neck. He dropped a few kisses to her neck and smiled against her skin when she spoke again.

"No, Draco. 'Rubbing off on a person' means passing a characteristic or behavior onto another person that you're spending a good amount of time around. It happens a lot with couples and family members. It's a common muggle phrase." She smiled at him when he pulled away from her neck to meet her eyes.

He paused, thinking about the concept.

"I can't decide whether this is a positive or negative trait to receive. Can you pass along specifically positive qualities?" He smiled when she kissed his cheek. "Or are they only negative?"

"Are you saying that my tendency to mess with my hair is negative?" She frowned.

"No, love. But it is a dead giveaway for when you're thinking of something else. I'm not interested in being an expressive person. It's one of your best qualities, but I don't want it for myself."

She tilted her head at him, letting her fingers curl into his hair thoughtfully. "Why don't you want to be expressive? It would be nice to know what you're thinking about from time to time. You tend to be a bit of a stone face when we're out of your bedroom."

He smirked down at her. "I'm fairly expressive in the shower too, if you'd remember. The kitchen too, in fact. And the living room, and your bedroom, and that broom closet from last week, and the Room of Requirement and our classro-oh!" He laughed when she smacked his chest lightly; her face flushed bright red while his eyes were darkening with fulfillment yet intrigued at the prospect of more.

"Oh come on, we haven't done that in the classroom." She glared good-naturedly.

"Yet." He kissed her smoothly and deeply. He let his hands wrap tighter around her waist and dropped them to cup her bottom and pull her closer to him. He ground his hardness into the crux of her, biting her bottom lip when she blushed and moaned.

He lowered her to the floor, letting his lips wander to her earlobe to lick and suck the skin behind it and thrilled at her whimpers and gasps. He slipped off her shirt and sports bra, circling her quickly pebbling nipples with his tongue. He slid his hand into her yoga pants, pulling them off along with her panties while her hands grabbed his shirt and ripped it off to join the pile of clothes on the floor beside them. She tucked her toes into his pants to pull them down and he joined with her effortlessly, swallowing her cries with his kiss.

She wrapped her legs around his waist. Let her fingernails lightly scratch his back as he liked and adoring the way he thrust just hard enough to pleasure her, yet keep her on the edge of just what she needed. She beckoned him on, hoping he would quicken his pace to push her over into bliss, but he held off.

He dropped down to his forearms to whisper lowly into her ear, keeping his thrusts steady and deep. He loved how frenzied and flushed he could make her.

"Do you want to know what I was thinking about when you hit me?" He smirked, pulling her impossibly closer.

She nodded frantically, not trusting her ability to speak.

He swallowed thickly, feeling apprehensive to reveal his true self and step outside of his confident outer shell. He hated being expressive; it let others see what you wanted. Letting others know what you wanted was dangerous. It gave them power over you, and he hadn't allowed another human power over him since his mother passed a few years earlier. His experience with his father and then the Dark Lord trained him to care little for the people and objects in his life. Stay unattached, stay alive.

Hermione had thrown a wrench in that ideology. He was fine admitting that he wanted her; sexual desire and even casual romantic desire were often fleeting. The issue was, that he didn't just want her.

He needed her.

The moments they spent together were the best in his life. Her warmth and fire infected him with positivity and happiness. Her bright eyes and contagious smile warmed his heart and lightened the weight on his shoulders. He had thought he would never feel content again after the horrors he experienced and inflicted during the war, but she made him feel like a normal man. For the first time in his life, he wasn't the son of Lucius Malfoy, he wasn't a Death Eater, he wasn't a traitor.

He was just Draco. He could be himself around her and he was quickly finding her to be a necessity in his life.

"I was thinking about this morning, when you left our bed." He thrust particularly hard when he saw her open her mouth to correct him, to tell him it was 'his' bed, not theirs. "And about how I felt when you weren't in my arms anymore. I was thinking about how cold and desolate familiar places, like our bed and the halls of the castle, are when you're gone. Any day without you is inevitably a bad day."

Her eyes widened when he stopped, his hand came up to cup her face and he kissed her softly, reverently. Her heart stuttered in her chest and pleasant shivers spread across her skin. He had never kissed her like this before. She didn't think she had ever been kissed like that before. She felt like she was melting from the passion he was pouring into her.

"You've managed to get deep under my skin, Hermione. I'm not sure how, but I'm finding that you're rapidly becoming a fixture in my life and I'm finding myself craving you more and more." He didn't feel comfortable sharing the depth of his feelings yet, but he knew that for him to want to share even a sliver, he must be falling in love with her.

Her eyes were wide and too observant, so he resolved to drive her into ecstasy and hopefully distract her from his vulnerability. He leaned forward to bury his face into her skin, biting down into her shoulder to muffle his groans as he lost himself in her.


	16. Chapter 16

"Riddikulus!"

Students laughed at the puffy pink poodle scrambling across the floor that had been a bloodthirsty wolf moments earlier. The dog's paws were scratching against the worn wood noisily and the Ravenclaw Third Year stepped back into the fray of students, clapped on the shoulder by his proud housemates.

"Alright class, that was a great job." Hermione switched off the record player with a flick of her wand, and then tucked the wand into the back pocket of her jeans. She flicked her long braid over her shoulder and smiled brightly to her students.

"Does anyone else want a chance to face the boggart?" Malfoy asked, speaking up from Hermione's side. "There's only about five minutes left in the lesson."

He met eyes with an especially quiet student standing in the back of the crowd of students. Hermione's style of instruction was the more proactive, energetic of the two Professors. Draco preferred to sit back and observe his students, noting which students needed instruction and which preferred to be left to their own devices. He preferred his style because it saved himself the valuable time interacting unnecessarily with students that he was able to avoid.

This specific girl had been sitting in the back of the class all semester. She was a quiet Slytherin Third Year with dark brown hair and fringe bangs. He witnessed her exceptional talent over the month he had been teaching her, watched her nonverbally summon her texts, smoothly dodge spells during the dueling lessons, and summon impeccable shield spells with ease. While many students would gloat when passing through classes with comfort, she remained silent and discreet.

She had a good reason to fly under the radar. She was the first muggleborn Slytherin (that he knew of).

With his history of strong leadership within the Slytherin House, Draco hoped to find a way to make her life easier. A few years ago, he would not have been inclined to help her, but his burgeoning affection towards Hermione was starting to get to him in other avenues of his life. He felt himself caring more and more for others and towing the party line when it came to unity and equality.

She stepped up to the front of the class when he glared at her, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and raising her wand. He nodded to her and she nodded back, squaring herself towards the boggart.

The poodle morphed languidly into a large scorpion, and her eyes widened while taking a small step back. She was frozen in fear.

A few long minutes later, Draco caught Hermione's worried look and nodded confidently to her. She moved as if to step forward to help the girl, but Draco gently took her elbow in hand and kept her steady.

Draco cleared his throat, startling the young girl out of her anxiety. She focused again and swallowed thickly, before clearly casting the spell and converting the scorpion into a giant plush purple butterfly that floated cheerily back into the cabinet.

The class clapped and cheered happily, a few Ravenclaw girls talking to the Slytherin tentatively and Draco and Hermione dismissed the class.

After the last few students left, Hermione gently tugged Draco's hands to bring him close to her and went up to her toes to kiss him. He wrapped his arms loosely on the curve of her waist, and she smiled against his lips. They kissed quietly and contently for a few more minutes, enjoying the calm and relaxed intimacy.

She pulled back when his hands started slipping up her shirt and laughed at the discontented grumble he released.

"It's nice to see you paying attention to your students." Hermione kissed his cheek, walking around the desk to gather her papers for grading later that night. "You seem to have taken quite a shine to Ms. Lewis."

He slipped his hands in his pockets and sat on the desk closest to Hermione's.

"I just want her to have a chance. Slytherins are a loyal bunch to their own, but I'm fairly certain that the older students went to extraordinary measures to ensure the younger housemates alienate her." He ran a hand through his hair. "She'll most likely have better luck with the Ravenclaws, and I figured if she showed aptitude in class, they would be more likely to accept her."

Hermione smiled at him, proud of how far he had come since they were children. She came closer to him to stroke his cheek and kissed him appreciatively.

"You're a good man, Draco." He let a small smile grace his face and he slightly blushed. He cleared his throat and looked down at his lap before giving her hand a squeeze in thanks.

"So, how long has it been since you've faced a boggart?" He smiled roguishly, eager to change the subject. "It's been at least a few for me."

She paused, trying to remember. "At least three. The last one I saw was when Harry and I were on the run and ran into one at Sirius' house." She grinned, remembering her fear of academic failure from when she was a child. Things like that seemed so insignificant in comparison to the reality they faced during and after the war.

Draco walked up to the wardrobe cautiously. He squared his shoulders and tilted his head to the side.

"I wonder what I would see now." He frowned, looking down at his flawed forearm but his eyes were drawn to Hermione's hand when she intertwined their fingers. She stood shoulder to shoulder with him, facing the wardrobe as well.

She looked up at him. "I can leave if you want me to?" She stepped away as if to leave, but he strengthened his grip on her.

He looked down at his shoes before speaking quietly. "I want you."

"I know, love. I want you too." She tried to comfort him, wondering where he was going with this.

He sighed before speaking more openly. "I want you to know me in my entirety, and I want to know everything about you. My fears and my past are a part of that." He released her hand to step up to the cabinet, flicking his wand to unlock the door.

He did not look back at her, but waited patiently for the figure inside to step out.

Hermione stiffened at the sight of the tall blonde man stepping out into the room. His smirk was slick and cold and his grey eyes were narrowed at the man in front of her. His cane clicked loudly on the floor, breaking the thick silence that filled the room like blackened syrup.

"Hello, Draco." Lucius's lip curled at the sight of his estranged son. "It's been a while."

"Father." Draco spoke curtly. He raised his wand to cast the spell to transform his father but the words that Lucius purred stopped him in his tracks.

"I've been missing your mother while I've been travelling."

Draco felt his stomach clench and clenched his teeth. He felt disdain and hatred pouring out of his pores and sliding like sludge through his veins.

"You're not travelling, father. You're on the run because you lost the war. You chose the wrong side and she left you." Draco's back was stiff and he ached to strike the man in front of him, but he reminded himself that he was simply an image. A mirage.

Hermione stood quietly, watching this conversation and trying to let Draco work out his issues, but her distaste for Lucius was hard to swallow.

Lucius chuckled indifferently and grinned. "You and I both know that your mother did not leave me. That may be what you told your friends and these filthy blood traitors and mudbloods, but you and I both know what happened." Draco growled audibly, stepping forward to silence the apparition in front of him. Faux-Lucius continued, "Your mother wasted away as a weak, useless husk of herself. The only redeeming quality she kept was her docility.

"You share your mother's weakness. Do you honestly think that you fooled me by tampering with the memories of our filthy prisoners? Did you think I wouldn't notice you healing them at night? Do you really want to resign yourself to a life of mediocrity because of the quim of some filthy mudblood whore?" Lucius nodded to Hermione, refusing to acknowledge her presence by directly addressing her.

Draco had stood firm through the tirade, seemingly lost in the increasing volume of his father's derisive abuse. He suddenly blinked at the slur and cast the spell, transforming his father.

Lucius laughed darkly before suddenly shifting into a blur. Hermione smiled at the appearance of the white flamingo in front of them.

Hermione stepped up behind Draco, letting her hands soothe his stiff shoulders. She rested her forehead against his back and remained quiet, feeling his strong heartbeat through his shoulders.

Draco and Hermione stood in silence for a few more minutes and he reveled in the peace she brought him.

"I told the Daily Prophet that my mother passed away naturally, from an illness she picked up while travelling." Draco revealed quietly. Hermione vaguely remembered reading the article.

Draco paused and Hermione let her hands wrap around his torso to embrace him strongly.

"My mother witnessed the torture, rape and murder of many people during the war. The year that Voldemort lived at the Manor, she was forced to attend many violent events because Voldemort was angry at my father for his failures and shortcomings. She was rarely tortured herself, but the sight of so many people's dug deep into her."

He took a breath.

"After the Final Battle, my father went on the run and tried to bring my mother and I with him. She left with him originally, but returned a few months later.

"I found her on the front steps of the Manor, bloody and grey. She slept for many days once I got her into St. Mungo's, but when she woke up I realized what had happened." He turned in Hermione's arms, pulling her close to him and setting his chin on top of her head.

"What happened?" Hermione asked quietly, her head tucked into his chest. She let him comfort her, knowing it would bring him comfort as well.

"She couldn't cope with the guilt of what she had witnessed and failed to stop. My father had been obliviating her periodically, starting from my early childhood. At least, that's when I first saw him do it." Hermione gasped, pulling away to meet his eyes.

He continued, schooling a guarded expression. "Over time, the repeated exposure to the spell caused her mind to deteriorate. While on the run, my father grew frustrated with her inability to stabilize her sanity and attempted to use a stronger version of the spell and it was the last straw.

"I kept watch over her as much as possible during the few months my mother lived with me at the Manor, but I was unable to keep her steady. I found her in the bathtub with her wrists slit one morning."

Hermione pulled him close and kissed his forehead lovingly. "I am so sorry, love." She sighed. "I have no idea what to say other than that, but I adore you and it is in no way your fault that she passed. You were an amazing son and any mother would be proud to see how much you have grown over the past few years." She stroked his cheek and gazed at him lovingly. "I am so proud of you. I know she would be too."

Draco nodded and returned her embrace.

"I've had a few years to process it. Thank you for saying that though." He kissed her reverently and held her close.

Hermione stood in his embrace for a few more moments, enjoying his warm and stability. She then swallowed thickly and stepped up to the wardrobe.

Draco crossed his arms across his chest and watched cautiously.

"You don't have to do this, Hermione." He spoke firmly, somewhat anxious to see what Hermione feared the worst. He worried that he or one of his family members would step out. He walked up to stand a few feet away from her, hoping to distract her from the wardrobe.

Hermione nodded, not taking her gaze from the cabinet. She flicked her wand and waited for the boggart to emerge.

Draco's jaw dropped when he watched the dark-haired woman step out into the room.


	17. Chapter 17

Draco sat on the couch under a thick disillusionment spell. He waiting patiently, his cool eyes locked on the door. In his silence, he ran his hands over his face and tried, once again, to understand what had transpired in their classroom between the boggart and Hermione.

 _Hermione's boggart stood tall, her hair unkempt and torn with patches burned from wayward spells. Her pink hoodie was smeared with soot and blood and her eyes were locked on the woman across from her. Blood was trailing down her cheek from a cut on her forehead, and when Draco looked back at Hermione he saw a small scar mirroring the young dirty woman._

 _The three stood in silence, tension thick in the air._

Draco hadn't seen Hermione in three days, leading classes by himself and sleeping alone. He felt her absence in the silence of their apartment, in the dimness of the halls, in the folds of their sheets. He missed her, deep in his bones. In his blood.

 _Draco took the opportunity to examine the similarities and differences of the two women. Both women showed the same thin scar on their throats, both had long dark curly hair, and were the same height, but the boggart's eyes were black while the real Hermione had honey brown eyes. The boggart's black eyes were fixed on Hermione, hatred and anger radiating off of her._

" _So how have we been?" The boggart stepped forward, tilted her head in an expression that Draco had never seen on her before. It seemed more fitting on someone like Lucius Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange. She laughed coldly, stepping closer to Hermione and the two began to circle each other._

 _Hermione stood silently, watching the boggart with a surprisingly calm and expectant expression. Draco had yet to close his mouth and did not think that he had ever seen her look so cold and distant._

 _The boggart stepped closer, "Still haven't told Harry, have you?" She smiled, reminiscent of the late Bellatrix Lestrange._

 _Draco stepped closer to the pair, hoping to lend Hermione support. Hermione shot him a hard look, willing him to be silent._

" _Haven't told Harry what?" Draco asked, coming up to Hermione to gently touch her shoulder. Hermione kept her eyes locked on the boggart._

" _You're just a boggart. You're not real and you can't do anything to hurt me." Hermione clenched her jaw and glared. She took a deep breath and raised her wand, but the boggart reached behind her with an evil grin._

" _Remember this?" The boggart held up a dark knife, crusted with blood and rust. Hermione's face paled immediately and she turned to Draco. Her eyes were wide with fear and she opened her mouth to speak but found she couldn't._

 _The boggart's clothing was steadily becoming stained with dark blood. The red crawled up her arms and tainted her hands and the real Hermione found herself rubbing her hands and fingers together frantically. She glanced down at her palms, expecting the blood to be mirrored but found her skin clean._

 _Draco stepped forward at the sight of the knife and reached out for Hermione, but she was still. Her gaze was fixed on her hands, flexing her fingers slowly as if in a trance._

" _You know, you can stay awake working every night to hide from the dreams, but you can't hide from the things you've done." The pseudo-Hermione walked happily towards Hermione and Draco. She waved the knife in Hermione's face, coming toe to toe with her and meeting her eye. "Does he know?"  
_

 _The black eyes of the boggart met Draco's before Hermione's head snapped up and she cast the counter spell with such force that the boggart was slammed back into the cabinet. Draco stood unmoving, eyes fixed on the space that was occupied by the woman moments earlier._

 _Hermione stepped back, rubbing her hands over her face and into her hair. Her eyes were locked on the same space, but she quickly found herself unable to focus on anything. She turned and fled, slamming the door behind her._

So here Draco was, hiding out in his own living room, hoping to catch his girlfriend sneaking back in. He had been on this couch each night before but she did not surface.

He had hoped that she would return to get her things, but he realized that if she was willing to miss classes, she was definitely willing to miss her toiletries. So here he sat, hoping to catch her unaware and coax her into returning.

* * *

Sorry this chapter is short, but the next chapter will be much longer. I'll be updating again in a few days, but thank you all very much for the reviews and favorites. It really is excellent motivation and I appreciate all input, no matter how small.

See you in a few days!


	18. Chapter 18

The room was dark and quiet, the only sound being the quiet breathing of the man in the bed. A strip of moonlight lay across the bed and his pale skin, exposing the dips and shadows of the muscles of his back.

Hermione's pink painted toes padded softly on the floor as she snuck in the room. She smoothly slipped into the bed and tucked her head into the curve of his neck.

Draco's arms reflexively curled around her, drawing her close into his chest and he inhaled the scent of her hair deeply. She let out a contented sigh and burrowed in.

His eyes sleepily opened and he pulled his face back to observe her cautiously. Her hair was disheveled and frizzed with stress; her eyes were sunken with deep blue circles and she looked as if she hadn't slept for days. He sobered, realizing that she probably hadn't.

He brought up a hand to stroke her cheek softly and tucked a dark curl behind her ear. She met his eyes tiredly and prayed that he wouldn't push her to explain herself.

His steel grey eyes held her honey brown in apprehensive silence. He ached to know what was going on with her but he respected her reluctance and he had missed her too much to risk scaring her off. He gave a small nod and pulled her close to kiss her tenderly.

He tucked her back into his chest, buried his head in the softness of her hair and let the sound of her breathing lull him back to sleep.

* * *

The morning light woke Draco a few hours later. He pulled back from Hermione to watch her sleep. He let his eyes trace the curve of her in the white sheets and he savored this rare occurrence. He had slept with her a number of times, but he seldom woke before her. Her small nose was dusted with freckles and her long dark eyelashes fluttered against her cheek as she slowly woke.

He smiled at her when she faced him. She shifted closer and kissed him softly. Their innocent and drowsy kiss grew deep as their arms wrapped around each other and Hermione whimpered when Draco's mouth coasted down the skin of her neck.

He let his hands slide under the covers to remove her panties and dug his fingers into the silky flesh of her bottom. She moaned into his shoulder and trailed her nails down his back, raising goosebumps down his fair skin.

He pulled her underneath him and pinned her to the bed, spreading her legs and grinding his hardness into her warmth. He groaned lowly when he found her wet and ready for him.

She pulled him down to kiss her and let her hands glide down his front to encircle his length. He bit softly into her lower lip and kissed her cheeks warmly before smiling at her. She put her hand against his shoulder to push him off, making to slide down his body and take him into her mouth, but he brought a strong hand to her neck and held her still.

He held her throat firmly but she felt safe and comforted. Their eyes held with palpable heat and his lips pulled into a mischievous smirk. He could feel her heart speeding up from the thrill of submission and he felt his own responding similarly. He ground their centers together in controlled and measured strokes, relishing the deep rose flush that crept up her chest and throat to linger in her cheeks.

He let his hands travel down her form as he slithered down her body and he pulled her legs over his shoulders to face her center. She panicked and opened her mouth to object vehemently but he slapped her thigh decisively and glared at her to keep silent. He bit gently into the skin of her hip and laved the mark soothingly. He knew she was incredibly nervous, having never done this before.

Her protests stuck in her throat at the first swipe of his tongue against her core. Her back arched suddenly and she let out a strangled moan, burying her fingers in his silver hair.

He smirked when her moans continued to rise in volume and he had to hold her tightly to keep her steady. Her fingers clenched in his hair and her legs were shaking with spasms, but he remained resolute in his conquest of her. He slid a long finger and then two into her tightness and pumped deeply, letting his fingers dig into her cheeks to hold her open.

Hermione squirmed and fought the pleasure before she froze, falling over the edge with her head flung back and her eyes screwed shut. She screamed Draco's name before falling back into the sheets and melting.

Draco stroked her soothingly through her orgasm, letting her overwhelmed nerves regain their senses before continuing his full-bodied assault. He gently kissed her stomach and hips, travelling up her body gradually before slipping his arms around her upper body to cradle her close to him.

He kissed her deftly, swallowing her cries when he smoothly slid into her and bottomed out. Her nails scraped his back and he groaned at the stinging pain, thrusting harder into her in retaliation.

Hermione felt like she was losing her mind as he pounded into her. Her fingers were scrambling to find something to grasp onto and her toes were curling as he drove to her to peak after peak.

He sunk his teeth into the curve of her neck and she screamed out at the sharp pain that cut through the fog of pleasure. She cried out again, this time in surprise when he pulled back sharply and brought his hand up again to grip her throat securely. He stopped his thrusting suddenly and held her in tense silence.

"Never leave again. Do you understand?" He snarled at her, glaring into her surprised eyes. Her mouth opened in shock and she tried to respond.

"Draco, I-" He thrust hard into her, holding himself deep. She cried out.

"Do you understand?" He growled, keeping her close and still. She nodded hurriedly and moaned when he began driving into her again and returned his face into her shoulder. "Good girl."

* * *

Later that day, Hermione reached to grab a glass from the cupboard, standing up on her tiptoes. Draco smiled into his tea when his dress shirt slid up her bottom and her black panties were revealed.

Dark fingerprints peaked out of the fabric and there was a deep red love bite visible on her upper thigh. It was good to have her back.


End file.
